Leave to Live
by ROCkER.JACkSON
Summary: Elizabeth leaves PC and Lucky behind after their couple's argument turns physical. Running to Italy, with the help of Sonny, can she find everything she had ever been looking for or will it all fall to shambles?


**Leave to Live**

Her face still throbs from where he had slapped her. The cut on her lip aching long after the blood has stopped seeping from the gash. While the side of her face has become a frightening shade of reddish purple. It had come out of nowhere, neither of them having seen it coming, her most of all, but once his hand made contact with her face, Elizabeth Webber knew that she wouldn't be safe with him. She had heard the apologies as he spat them out, but she didn't believe it for even a second. No. This was just one thing among a whole list of things that he has done to her and she couldn't let this one slip by unnoticed. The yelling and the insults had been one thing, she could overlook it, but not this. Never this.

Zipping up the last of her luggage, Elizabeth makes a silent exit, not wanting to alert him to her departure, wanting to get as far away from his as she possibly could. Goodbye is something she strongly believes people should say to one another, allowing each other to gain a sense of closure, but she couldn't risk it, not now. Not after he had put his hands on her and sent fear straight to her heart. She will leave him a letter, explaining why should couldn't remain by his side while he fought his demons, and that will have to be enough. As much as she loves him, she needs to think of her own safety, of her own life. She couldn't let the sense of obligation send her into an early grave. She just couldn't.

She's met by a couple of Sonny's men in front of her apartment building where they help her load her things into the town car. Neither men speak of the damage done to her face, neither questioning her on her appearance in any way, simply helping her into the backseat of the car before taking off to the private airstrip where Sonny's jet will fly her off to wherever her heart desires. It hadn't been easy asking him for help, knowing he blamed her for Jason's absence, but she literally had nowhere else to turn. The moment he laid eyes on her, Sonny swore to her that he would do whatever it took to help her escape the trappings of her first love. The anger in his eyes was clear as day, but she couldn't think on his pain. Not with hers burning vibrantly through her.

"Is there anything else I can do for you?" Sonny questions her as they stand at the stairs to his jet. "Name it and its yours."

"You've done more than enough, Sonny." she waves away his offer, knowing there was nothing more he could. "I can never thank you for what you've done for me."

"Stay safe and be happy." Sonny says firmly. "That'll be thanks enough."

"Thank you." she says, accepting the hug he offers her, knowing this might very well be the last time she sees him. "Goodbye, Sonny."

"Goodbye, Elizabeth."

Pulling out of his embrace, Elizabeth takes a deep breath before climbing the stairs and boarding the private jet, instructing the pilot to take her to Florence, Italy before she settles into the cushy seat, not even glancing out the window as the plane begins its ascent. Port Charles had once been a place of happy memories, but now remains nothing more than a painful past. She hopes one day she'll be able to return and remember all the good that town had once offered, but that day is a long way off. With all the pain hanging over her, all the heartbreaking memories dragging her down, she just doesn't see that day on the horizon and she's uncertain if she ever will.

The first weeks in Florence had been the hardest as she tried to come to terms with her failures while getting to know a new town. It would take months before she allows herself to see the beauty that the country offered, even more months before she allowed herself to think of painting again. It had hurt too much to even lift a brush, much less to take paint to a canvas, but eventually she does it. Lifting the brush into her delicate hands, she pours her heart and soul onto the canvas, creating a painting to portray all the heartache she had been living with. By the time she was done, Elizabeth swore that the hurt just seemed to vanish from within her, no longer aching as vibrantly as it had when she began the piece.

Paintings of pain and heartache slowly turn into paintings of happiness and joy as she started to embrace her new found life. Italy has always been a dream to her, a dream she never thought she'd ever see come true, but it finally happened. With the heartache and pain no longer surging through her, Elizabeth's stay in Italy becomes everything she had ever hoped for and more. She knows that she will never forget what happened and she will probably always carry it with her, but it doesn't hurt anymore and she's thankful for that. For life's small miracles.

After a year of experiencing Florence and all it had to offer, Elizabeth sells enough paintings to get her to Rome, where she'll fall in love with a small cottage just off the beaten path and take up a painting job in exchange for residing within the beautiful home. A few years later, the owner of the cottage signs over ownership to her, content with how she has transformed it into her own. Locking her copy of the paperwork into her safe, Elizabeth breathes a breath of relief, knowing that it was hers to keep.

Her life seemed to be falling into place, the longer she remained in the beautiful country she loved so much, but it was the nights that haunted her. No matter how hard she worked to make her life everything she wanted it to be and more, there was still something missing from her life. This subtle ache that just didn't seem to fade as the years ticked on by. For a while she had thought it was an ache over what she had lost with Lucky, but that was quickly erased when she remembered what brought her to that country. No. It was something else. Something she just couldn't place.

Then she saw him, in the middle of a crowded farmer's market, she saw him standing by the apple cart as if it were the most natural thing in the world. A part of her wondered if he had shown up because she was there, but she couldn't see how he'd know that. Sonny's plane dropped her off in Florence and she was no longer there. Then she remembered his line of work and she began to wonder. It wasn't until his eyes locked on hers that she saw the instant look of shock in his orbs before he quickly hides it behind the mask he wears so well.

"Hi." she voices, unable to think of anything more articulate to say in that moment.

"Hi." he replies back, obviously still trying to figure out how they had come to stand there together.

"I didn't know you were in Italy." Elizabeth says, though, she really didn't have any reason to know where he is at all.

"Same here." he admits, having lived in Rome for a good year, it was strange that he hadn't run into her sooner. "I thought you were still in Port Charles."

"Sonny didn't tell you?" she looked at him a bit surprised before realization dawns on her. "You haven't been back, have you?"

"No. I haven't." he admits. "I haven't kept in touch with Sonny either."

"Ah. Well, that explains that." she says with a soft smile. "I've actually been in Rome for a few years now. Before here, I was in Florence for a little over a year."

"Would you like to get some coffee?" he finds himself asking, thankful that she was finally able to see Italy for herself.

"I'd love to." she admits, hoping the blush isn't too visible upon her face as she links arms with him before making their way to the nearest cafe.

Sitting together with a cup of coffee before them, it didn't take long for the air of comfort fell over them, finding that - even in Italy - they still had such ease about them that they couldn't really find with anyone else. They were only half-way through their first cup of coffee when Elizabeth's rambling side came out in full force. She tells him all about her time in Italy, how it all began and how she fought her way to true happiness in the country she loved so much.

Jason hates that Lucky put his hands on her, but he could see that it no longer factored into her life. He will pay a certain Spencer a visit one day, just to even the odds, but that can wait. Sitting there with her as she rambles on, Jason realizes why Italy never truly felt like much to him, why it felt like something was missing. Italy had always been her dream. It had been the dream he wanted to make true for her. Listening to her now, hearing Italy through her eyes, he finally feels like he, too, can open himself up to the beauty of Italy the way she clearly has.

From the cafe, the two take their reunion back to Elizabeth's cottage, where its Jason's turn to tell her all about his time after leaving Port Charles. At first, he doesn't really think there's much of anything to say about his time after leaving town, but her questions bring out lengthy answers from him and, before he knew it, he was talking on his own accord without any assistance from her. Sitting across from her, this look of pure anticipation in her eyes as he talks about the places he has been, Jason just couldn't help the words that continued to fall from his lips.

"Its getting late." he voices after hearing the chime of her grandfather clock. "I should get going."

"Um, okay." she says, allowing him to help her to her feet. "I'll walk you out."

"Are you busy tomorrow?" Jason questions as they make their way out of the cottage. "I was thinking about going sightseeing, if you want to come with me."

"Sounds like a plan." she voices, using the words he had used on her so many years ago. "I'll be here."

"See you in the morning, then."

"See you then."

Slowly shutting the door behind her once Jason had walked out of sight, Elizabeth finally realized what had been missing all these years. Though she loved Italy and everything it has come to mean to her, she now knows that it had been Jason that was missing. Many times in the past, while they were staying in her studio together, she would imagine seeing Italy with him. Turning away from him when he held his heart in his hands for her had to be the hardest thing she ever had to do. Still, the dream remained in her heart and now she's finally seeing it come true. A life in Italy with Jason in it.

Not too long after the sun rose over the horizon, the two quickly made their way through town, stopping off to enjoy a simple breakfast at a nearby cafe before spending the better half of the day taking in the beauty that is Rome. They even found their way to one of the most beautiful art exhibits before having lunch at a quaint diner just off the the beaten path. It was cozy with a faint resemblance to the local diner back in PC.

By nightfall, they find themselves in front of the majestic Trevi Fountain, simply taking in the beauty as the lights lend an almost angelic glow to the water as it flows over the stones and into the pool of water below. Elizabeth couldn't help the flood of emotions that overcome her as she hugs Jason's arm to her body, memories of the past coming to mind as they stand there together, feeling the most at home she has ever felt in such a long time.

"Elizabeth?"

"Yeah?" she turns her head to look up at him, a little confused by the tone in his voice.

"I don't dream." he says in a soft tone, shaking his head to stop her from talking. "I don't dream, I know that, but this...it feels like a dream. It doesn't seem real to me."

"What do you mean?" she says, turning him so they are facing each other, searching his eyes for some clue as to what he was going on about.

"Us. Here." he sighs, knowing he probably wasn't making much of any sense, but he had to say what he felt. "I never thought it would happen. Yet here we are."

"Here we are." she repeats, smiling softly as he slides his hands into hers, her breath growing shallow with anticipation. "What happens next?"

"I'm not sure." he admits, gently stroking her hands with his thumbs. "I just can't help thinking that this is meant to be our chance. Us meeting here of all places. It has to mean something."

"You think so?" she questions, not entirely used to him being so open like this, but finding that she had no complaints.

"Yeah." he says wholeheartedly. "Don't you?"

"I'm not sure what it means." she admits, tugging him a little closer to her. "But I'm more than willing to find out."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." she assures with her whole heart. "I walked away from you once and it had been the biggest mistake of my life. I won't make that same mistake again."

"Same here." he admits. "No bailing."

"No bailing."

It happens slowly, tentatively, as their faces grow close together, anticipation filling the air as their lips inch closer and closer. To them it was as if the whole world around them came to a standstill, nothing registering but the deep desire burning within them. Just as their lips finally embrace, emotions exploding in an vibrancy of colors, they could vaguely hear the applause erupting around them. If there ever were a thing such as kismet, the two of them, in that moment, would be the pure definition. And like all the cheesy one-liners would say, every kismet starts with a kiss or something of that caliber. As they come down from the cloud they had floated away on for a moment, Jason and Elizabeth stare into each other's eyes and find that it didn't really matter anymore. Whether it was by coincidence or some stroke of fate, as long as they were together, it truly didn't matter.

 _Previously posted on LG2._


End file.
